Toyota launches ‘2014 Harrier’ in Japan

Toyota Motor Corporation was originally founded in 1933 as the automobile division of another company. In 1937 it was finally established as an independent organization under the leadership of Kiichiro Toyoda. Now after 77 years after its establishment, Toyota is one of the top selling car brands in the world and in terms of production volume, currently the biggest manufacturer in the world. Currently the Toyota group owns five automobile brands – Lexus, Scion, Hino, Ranz and the mother brand Toyota. It also holds stakes in several other companies and thus is amongst world’s biggest conglomerates. It has more than thirty three thousand employees globally.

Toyota first launched the ‘Harrier’ crossover SUV/ CUV in Japan in 1997. In other markets, it was sold as ‘Lexus RX’ . The reason for the two badges was that the Lexus brand was not active in the Japanese market at that time. After Lexus debuted as a brand in the Japanese market in 2003, both the models were sold side by side. But while the Lexus version was given a new generation upgrade, the Toyota version remained the same till 2013. When it was finally upgraded, the developed into a separate model but looks similar to the Lexus.

Recently Toyota has unveiled the 2014 model year ‘Harrier’ that will be sold in Japan. The car will be available for sale from 2nd December. The new version will run on a 4-cylinder 2.0 liter engine that is paired to a Continuous Variable Transmission and comes with two-wheel or four-wheel drive. The powertrain can develop power of 151 HP or 111 kW and max torque of 193 Nm. If you hold on til January 2015, you will also be able to order the Harrier with a hybrid powertrain. The hybrid will have an electric motor and a 2.5-liter engine. The combined output then becomes 196 HP and torque of 206 Nm.